1) SOCIO ECONOMIC LEVEL- The impact of socio economic level on learning has more to do with being able to use the knowledge being taught rather than the process of learning. The resorces needed to comply with all the requirements in learning L2 is necessary and inevitable.

2) OVERDEPENDENCE ON LECTURE- is indefensible in teaching L2. Teaching L2 will be more effective if teacher emphasize on student activity, question and answer, role-playing, cooperative learning, computer use and exposure to the target language.

3) HEALTH STATUS- Education level is significantly associated with health status. The healthier the educated or vise versa the easier he or she learns the lessons.

4) PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS - Qualities such as personal magnetism, enthusiasm, cheerfulness, self control, patience, flexibility, a sense of humor, a good speaking voice, self-confidence, willingness to admit errors and a caring attitude are all desirable personal characteristics of teachers; learning will be more interesting , fun or pleasant which is vital in learning L2.

5) CONCRETE EXPERIENCE AND REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION- Learning from actual experience and learning by observing others, I think had better chances of learning L2.

I had a friend who worked in Korea for five years and did not go to any school or academy to learn the Korean language . He excels in imagination, feeling oriented and awareness of meaning. He can speak Korean very well now.

http://www.koreanjob.net/ ...English-language skills have become the determining factor for the success of office workers, with many companies considering English test scores an important criterion for promotion and favoring conversation skills over standardized tests like the TOEIC and TOEFL.

More and more firms use English for their intranet boards, meetings and reports. One 35-year-old deputy director at an IT company said, “The reality is that even divisions where English is not needed for work have to speak it. When there are restructuring plans, rumors spread that those who can’t speak English are most likely to get laid off.”

According to a survey by job portal Job Korea in January of 2,042 salaried workers about their regrets in the recession, 27.2 percent picked poor English skills, 25.1 percent chose lack of professional skills or licenses, and 15.3 percent answered lacking a degree from prestigious university.

Among students at English-language schools around the business district in Gangnam, Seoul, office workers have a significant presence. “The English component in reviews for promotion was changed from a TOEIC score to conversation skills. I score fairly well on the TOEIC thanks to the vocabulary I learned at university, but there is no better option to improve my English conversation skill. That’s why I come here early in the morning,” one said.

Lunchtime classes at a school are packed with office workers. A staffer said, “Unlike university students who tend to give up one or two months after taking classes, more than half of these employee students take classes for more than a year. That shows how desperate they are.”

The English divide deepens when it comes to recruitment of fresh graduates. Average English proficiency is not enough in a generation where many have been educated abroad or gone through intensive courses from an early age, a human resources manager at Shinsegae Group said.

A 27-year-old jobseeker added, “It seems that Korea is going the same way as India, where totally different jobs are available for those who can speak English and those who can’t.”

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REACTION:

As you can see in the picture above, the office workers are studying English through class discussions. Where the teacher most probably the one talking most of the time as always the case with this kind of set up. This kind of studying scheme if your goal is to become fluent in speaking is not good. There is a saying," If you want to write...write a lot, if you want to speak...speak a lot." But, pity for a lot of Language learners doesn't really know and couldn't find the best method matches their need. As I read in one language book, the author said, " Why are you focusing on grammar learning. Do you want to become a grammarian?" In other words, grammar learning is not the key to learning how to speak fluently.

And as the article above stated: " more than half of these employee students take classes for more than a year. That shows how desperate they are.”

Huh! "more than a year"? Granting the fact that they learned English since high school, so more than 7 years of studying English. Wow! That is really a colossal amount of time and effort besides money. And yet, perhaps if you are going to interview some of them, they are still not satisfied nor can't speak fluent English. Where if they will try other method of studying like what I'm using in teaching Koreans... oh, within less than a year they could feel the difference.

Number one tip and my requirement in learning a language to adult is be like a child. As I learned from different Linguist like Chomsky, according to him, " a child could not possibly learn a language through imitation alone." While according to David Crystal's theory that children learn language in five stages, which aren’t clearly defined and some tie in with each other.

These stages are:

Stage One:

This is where children say things for three purposes:

To get something they want

To get someone’s attention

To draw attention to something

"Over three or four years, children master the grammar of the language. When they attend their first school year."

According to Jean Aitchison a Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication in the Faculty of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford.

In 1987, she identified three stages that occur during a child’s acquisition of vocabulary: labeling, packaging and network building.

1. Labeling – The first stage and involves making the link between the sounds of particular words and the objects to which they refer e.g. understanding that “mummy” refers to the child’s mother. In other words, associating a name with something.

2. Packaging – This entails understanding a word’s range of meaning. This is when Over extension and Under extension become a hurdle in the development of the language.

3. Network Building – This involves grasping the connections between words; understanding that some words are opposite in meaning.Aitchison argued that there are no EXACT dates to which a child reaches a certain stage of learning language – some children learn faster than others. She believed that the speed of learning is influenced by both innate abilities and environment. Language is partly learned by imitation, so parents and brothers/sisters play a role in the acceleration of learning the language. Baby talk whilst learning to speak could hinder the child in learning to speak later on. Speech timetablecreated from birth to ten years old.

P: Tommy, can you make a pile of all the yellow bricks?C: Yes mummy look!P: Well done!

Still thinks egocentrically

C1: Dolly is sadC2: No! Dolly is happy!C1: No!C2: Yes!C1: No!

Concrete operational Stage (7 – 11 years)

Can think logically about objects and events and achieve conservation of number

C: Tomorrow I start ballet, and then I will go every weekTeacher: Oooh! Thats lovely! How old are you now?C: 7!T: Now – please can you put these in order for me?C: Yep! *gets it right*

Formal operational Stage (11 years +)

Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems

C: When I grow up I want to be a doctorP: And how will you achieve that?C: I’m going to work really, really hard at school and then get lots and lots of money and then get married, and have children, and live happily ever after!"

Now, did you get it? To sum it up... children learn to speak by schedule, not only by imitation but rather exposure to the language several times over and over again by talking to their mother without grammar lessons yet. And when they reaches their first grade in school when they can say what they want and feel, that is the time they learn grammar.

Do you understand now? So, if it is still unclear to you then learn more by checking my method and about language acquisition in this blog and you will understand how the brain works and give you tips on language learning with fun.

Hasssshhh.... you are studying "grammar,grammar,grammar", for so many years you are studying that...listening to your teacher's boring lectures while you are feeling sleepy. When are you going to start talking???

Monday, March 28, 2011

If you want to donate money to the affected population of earthquake and tsunami, please contact your national Red Cross/Crescent society, which may have already launched fundraising campaign within your country.

If your national society doesn’t collect donation or you wish to send your donations directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society, please direct your fund to the following bank accounts. If you need the receipt of your fund, please state so clearly in the comment section of the bank transfer order. All the fund received under this account will be transferred to the Distribution Committee, which is formed around the local government of the disaster-affected prefecture and to be distributed directly among the affected population of earthquake and tsunami,

Thursday, January 6, 2011

I'm supposed to have session with my Korean Phd. Computer Engineer tonight at 10:00pm Philippine time and 11:00pm Korean time but he asked me to amend it next week because he is going to Seoul. Since that I'm already in front of the computer so I decided to just check my email, yahoo and face book to kill one 1/2 hour before resting. Then, it caught my attention with the exchanging of messages between my niece and her teacher that said:

Happy birthday po s mga celebrants today!

SOURCE: http://innermagicclub.wordpress.com/
Now I’m mentioning all this to you, because last week the party host in the birthday party I was performing at kept referring to the birthday boy as “the birthday ...celebrator.” One or two members of the audience were smirking at the term. The reason? To most Filipinos, celebrator is a pretentious word. It has a ring of artificiality in it.

Which shouldn’t be the case, because celebrator is a correct term. The only reason that prompted the smirk, I think, is that celebrator is not often used in the Philippines in ordinary occasions. The usual word is celebrant.

So now, if you are a magician in the Philippines, who is not a native English speaker, you may want to know which is the correct term to use? Birthday “celebrator” or birthday “celebrant“?

The answer favors neither. According to Dictionary.com, both terms are correct. They are in fact synonyms. They both mean “a participant in any celebration.” One can be used for the other, and it would mean the same thing.

However, celebrant also connotes “the officiating priest in the celebration of the Eucharist.” Methinks this connotation is what prompted well-meaning English professors and word mavens in the Philippines to preach that the correct term is celebrator.

Well, it may be the more correct term as far as nuance is concerned, but its sound grates the ears of ordinary citizens in the Philippines who are not used to hearing it, let alone using it.

That being the case, my advice is for you to use the more common word “celebrant.” It is still correct usage, and it is soothing to the ears of audiences in the Philippines.

" “I’m so glad to attend this party, because today is the birthday celebration of the birthday of our birthday celebrant who is celebrating his birthday as the birthday celebrator.”

( And I sent a message to my niece and said: "Bravo, you are doing your assignment in English, hahahaha"

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

celebrant - a person who performs a ceremony for example a priest. celebrator - someone who celebrates. "Is the priest the birthday celebrator?In both formal and informal usage, both words can be interchanged.

The expression birthday celebrant is correct. Oh, the birthday celebrant is so beautiful! NOT: Oh, the birthday celebrator is so beautiful!: )

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

"I have a small dream...and that is for people to make a difference by donating blood even to foreigners.Who knows, perhaps there will come a time that one of the member of your family will need it or... you!"

Vital information about requirements in applying for visa to go to South Korea.
The step by step upon entering the S. Korean embassy for visa applicants. New address of S.Korea embassy etc.

KOREAN EMBASSY NEW ADDRESS IN THE PHILIPPINES
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR KOREAN'S SISTER/BROTHER IN L...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR FILIPINO MARRIED TO KOREAN (...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR CHILD WHOSE MOTHER IS MARRIE...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR PARENTS OF A FILIPINO MARRIE...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS IN THE PHI...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR BUSINESSMEN
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR FILIPINO MARRIED TO FOREIGNE...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR KOREAN'S PARENTS IN LAW
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR RELIGIOUS WORKERS
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR F21 VISA (Marriage VISA)
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR C4 (short term employment fo...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR FILIPINO MARRIED TO MILITARY...
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDYING ABROAD
VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYEES
PROCEDURES FOR APPLICANTS: TO ALL VISA APPLICANTS...